Golf ball with optical feedback for improving putting stroke

ABSTRACT

A golf ball has an axis of rotation and an equator substantially perpendicular to the axis of rotation. A pattern is disposed substantially about the equator of the golf ball at the equator. The pattern has a first color and the golf ball has a second color which is different than the first color so that when the golf ball rotates so that the equator is substantially orthogonal to the axis of rotation the pattern exhibits one color, but if the ball rolls so that the equator rolls not substantially orthogonal to the axis of rotation, it exhibits a second color. In a preferred embodiment, the color of the golf ball is white and the different colors are the true color of the pattern and shades of that color. Furthermore, in a preferred embodiment, the pattern is asymmetrical but repeating and includes first regions of pattern and second regions of pattern. The first regions of pattern are disposed between successive second regions of pattern. The first regions of pattern have a width greater than the width of the second regions of pattern.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention is directed to a golf ball, in particular a golf ball foruse in training and competition to provide optical, and therefore,instant feedback with regard to a golfer's putting stroke as the ballrolls, when the ball is properly positioned prior to impact, allowingreal-time adjustment of the stroke during practice, to help develop amore precise and accurate stroke. Skilled players are able to use thegolf ball to provide similar feedback to improve short chip shots andother golf shots, because the ball visually “reports” the degree of spinas the ball rolls.

One of the most challenging aspects of golf is putting. A proper puttingstroke is not only a function of correctly “reading” the green, aim andalignment, but also club position and speed through the stroke. A majorfactor in missing putts is hitting the ball off line, i.e. the puttermay not be square at and through impact with the ball. A putt hitslightly off center may go offline due to torque and other forces atimpact that are not present when a putt is hit properly and contact withthe ball is made at the center of the putter face. A well-regardedtechnique for improving a putting stroke is repetition of a correctstroke to induce muscle memory, build skill, and increase confidence.

A challenge for a golfer is to align the putter and intended stroke pathproperly and strike the ball squarely along the initial line intendedfor the ball to travel. Other products such as a curved-face putter (seeNoh patent WO 0236213 Republic of Korea) correct the direction of puttsmade with an open or closed face. But even with a curved-face putter,such as the target50® putters, it is also important for a golfer topractice hitting putts correctly, and to make a stroke that increasinglyis the same as the intended stroke.

Many techniques are known for teaching a proper putting stroke, but theyhave a disadvantage if they work only indoors, or with intricate videoor computer equipment, or are expensive for average players to use. Auseful technique for teaching a proper putting stroke would beinexpensive and provide feedback as the ball starts to roll and as itapproaches the hole; would adapt to the specific variables of eachdifferent putting green, and would be USGA conforming.

One device currently known in the art is the O-Ball™ golf ball, whichprovides a pattern of o-rings around the equator and poles of the ballin order to provide visual feedback to golfers after putting. The rollof the O-Ball™ golf ball reveals the quality of the stroke that has justbeen made. After bad strokes, the O-Ball™ golf ball will display avisual wobble while perfect strokes are rewarded with zero wobble toindicate a pure roll. However, these golf balls suffer from thedeficiency that because golf balls are putted along a non-uniform grasssurface and the golf balls themselves have dimpled surfaces, the golfball will always exhibit some degree of wobble. Therefore, the personputting the O-Ball™ golf ball is faced with the problem of discerningwhat extent of wobble is acceptable for a good putting stroke.

Therefore, it is desirable to provide a golf ball, which provides avisual feedback that is easily discernible by the golfer to determinewhether or not a good putting stroke has been performed and is notaffected by wobble resulting from the non-uniform putting surface or thedimple pattern of the ball.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A golf ball has an axis of rotation and an equator circumnavigating theball substantially perpendicular to the axis of rotation. A pattern isdisposed substantially about the circumference of the golf ball at theequator. The pattern has a first color, the golf ball has a second colorwhich is different than the first color so that when the golf ballrotates so that the circumference is substantially orthogonal to theaxis of rotation the pattern exhibits one color, but if the ball rollsso that the circumference rolls not substantially orthogonal to the axisof rotation, it exhibits a second color and shades of that color causedby the optical illusion of the mixing of the first color and the secondcolor.

In a preferred embodiment, the color of the golf ball is white and thepattern colors are the true color of the pattern and shades of thatcolor. Furthermore, in a preferred embodiment, the pattern isasymmetrical but repeating and includes first regions of pattern andsecond regions of pattern. The first regions of pattern are disposedbetween successive second regions of pattern. The first regions ofpattern have a width greater than the width of the second regions ofpattern.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a fuller understanding of the invention, reference is made to thefollowing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawingin which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a golf ball constructed in accordance with theinvention, the reverse side of the golf ball being a mirror image ofthat shown.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As seen in FIG. 1, a golf ball, generally indicated as 10, has a dimpledsurface 12 with a plurality of dimples 14 thereon. Golf ball 10 has animaginary equator 16, which substantially divides golf ball 10 into twohalves, i.e. it is the centerline through one axis of golf ball 10.

When used in putting, golf ball 10 rotates about an axis of rotation 18.When golf ball 10 is used in accordance with the invention, on a flatsurface, a good putting stroke results in the axis of rotation 18 beingsubstantially orthogonal to equator 16. When a ball is mishit, equator16 is not substantially orthogonal to the axis of rotation 18.

A pattern 20 is disposed along equator 16 and extends substantiallyalong the entire length of equator 16 about the circumference of golfball 10. Pattern 20 exhibits a first color while the remainder of thesurface 12 of golf ball 10 exhibits a second (background) color.Furthermore, pattern 20 is made of two regions, the pattern of theregions repeating along the ball equatorial circumference. The firstregion 22 has a first maximum width W1 while a second region 24 has asecond maximum width W2. W1 is significantly greater than W2 and ispreferably twice as wide. In a preferred embodiment, W1 is substantially1.5 to 3 times larger than W2. In a preferred embodiment, W2 may be assmall as 4 mm on a golf ball that conforms to United States GolfAssociation (USGA) regulation.

The color patterns are formed on the ball in any way known in the art.They may be applied directly to surface 12, incorporated within theouter layer of material forming surface 12, or in a layer below surface12 if surface 12 is transparent.

A respective second region 24 is disposed between a respective pair offirst regions 22. The unseen surface of golf ball 10 is a mirror imageof that shown in FIG. 1. Therefore, in the preferred embodiment, thepattern 20 exhibits what appears to be a substantially continuousundulating pattern. However, gaps 26 may be provided along the pattern,or even in place of thinner region 24 without substantially affectingthe operation of golf ball 10. In other words, if properly dimensioned,an undulating pattern 20 need not be used, but a plurality of wideregions separated by sufficiently short gaps could be utilized at oneextreme and a continuous form (no gaps) of the pattern 20 shown in FIG.1 could be used as the other extreme. However, in the preferredembodiment the pattern would be continuous or provide for only one ortwo gaps 26 for providing indicia 28 as is common for identifying aplayer's golf ball.

Furthermore, in the preferred embodiment, pattern 20 is symmetricalabout the equator 16 of golf ball 10, but is asymmetrical along equator16 in the manner in which it repeats the pattern. In other words, forthe example of the shown undulating pattern, the lengths of regions 24are shorter than the lengths of regions 22 so that a non-uniformpattern, as opposed to a sine wave pattern, is provided. However, a sinewave pattern may be used.

In a preferred embodiment, surface 12 is white while pattern 20 is greenor some other color. It should be noted that in one embodiment of theinvention, an outline 30 may frame pattern 20 utilizing a third colorwithout substantially affecting the operation of the invention. Thisoutline 30 may be a manufacturer's code for the physical ball'scharacteristics such as its construction or spin rating.

The relative sizes of the regions of the patterns must be set to providegood visual feedback for a well struck putt so that twenty parts patterncolor and zero parts surface 12 color exhibit a correct putting stroke,while up to eighteen parts of surface 12 color to two parts of pattern20 color, or 17 parts of surface 12 background color to three parts ofpattern 20 color, optically blend to indicate a badly mishit stroke. Ina preferred embodiment, the maximum width W2 of pattern 20 would be 5%to 10% of the ball circumference or 6.7 mm to 13.4 mm.

During operation the ball is placed on the ground so that axis 18 issubstantially parallel to the ground and perpendicular to the initialline intended for the ball to travel. The ball is then struck with aputter. Depending upon the correctness of the stroke, pattern 20exhibits different intensity of color as the background color of surface12 mixes with the pattern color in different ratios, as a function ofthe amount the ball is mishit. If the ball is hit off the center of theputter or at an angle that is not square, with a putter that does notautomatically correct the direction for an off-center or pushed orpulled putt, then the ball no longer rotates along equator 16.Therefore, the color of pattern 20 optically mixes with the color of theremainder of surface 12 (background color) as the ball rotates off axis.If, for example, the color of pattern 20 is green and the remainder ofthe surface is white and the ball is hit correctly, when viewed frombehind the ball (the golfer's inherent position), or from behind thehole (the caddie's or teacher's inherent position), the pattern exhibitsa thin green stripe because to the eye the center line of pattern 20 isnot mixing with any white of surface background color 12. However, ifthe ball is hit off center, in other words pushed or pulled, then theball may roll off-axis so that the optical mix of the color is less than100% of the color of the pattern 20 and either the color will be lighter(for instance, a light green) or the pattern will not be evident. Theparticular pattern and intensity of color give visual clues to thegolfer about how the ball may have been misshit on an individual putt.Therefore, the visual feedback is a reminder to practice until the colorindicates correctly hit putts.

The undulating pattern, i.e. at least partially alternating regions 22,24 of relatively wider and narrower patterns, compensates for theinherent wobble of the golf ball. For example, if the putt werecorrectly struck on a flat surface, the golfer would see a patternhaving a solid dark line around the diameter of the minimum width with alighter tinted or lower intensity colored or shaded pattern in theregion between the minimum width and the maximum width of pattern 20because the color of the pattern would optically blend with thebackground color of the remaining surface 12 at the narrow width regions24. However, on a non-uniform surface such as the grass of a puttinggreen, which induces wobble, the undulating pattern smoothes itself outto a single color design when struck properly. In other words, thepresent invention still gives visual feedback of a good roll when thereis a little wobble. However, the greater the degree of a mishit of aputt, the more white (or the color of surface 12 if another color)optically mixes with the color of pattern 20 to the point where after abadly hit putt, the pattern may not appear because it is almost entirelywhite.

The instant golf ball has been described with respect to improving aputting stroke. However, it is applicable for improving other golf shotsmaking use of spin or where the objective is no spin. Some golf shotsthat skilled players can sink, less-skilled players tend to hit with acut or spin. For some players this spin is predictable to a degree, suchas on greenside bunker shots for a right-handed player that tend to spinand cause a left to right bounce and roll. The instant golf ball is alsouseful off the green, for chipping and putting, to help a player reducethe spin by indicating the amount of spin on chip shots and bunker(sand) shots. A ball that is all one color, such as all white, would notgive this optical feedback.

Although a specific embodiment of the present invention has beendescribed in detail herein with reference to the accompanying drawings,it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the preciseembodiment and that various changes and modifications may be effectedtherein by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

1. A golf ball comprising: a surface exhibiting a first color; anequator; a pattern disposed on said golf ball extending along saidequator, said pattern having a second color, said pattern being made ofa plurality of first regions and a plurality of second regions, eachsaid first region having a width greater than a width of each saidsecond region and said first region being disposed between a respectivepair of second regions, the pattern optically exhibiting said secondcolor when said golf ball rolls about said axis of rotation with saidequator substantially orthogonal thereto, and said pattern opticallyexhibiting a third color when said golf ball rolls about a second axisof rotation with said equator not being substantially orthogonal to saidsecond axis of rotation.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said patternis symmetrically disposed about said equator.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein said pattern is asymmetric along said equator.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein said color of said surface is white.
 5. The golf ballof claim 1, wherein said second region is substantially 1.5 to 3 timeswider than the width of the first region.
 6. The golf ball of claim 1,wherein said third color is a blend of said first color and said secondcolor.
 7. The golf ball of claim 1, further comprising at least one gapalong said pattern.